Episode 390: Connecticut-Grown Flowers with Evelyn Lee of Butternut Gardens

A spectrum of dahlias from Butternut Gardens in Connecticut

The Little White Flower Cottage at Butternut Gardens

Our theme for 2019 -- Fifty States of Slow Flowers -- continues today with Connecticut. And because I was so wrapped up in the conversation I recorded with my guest, Evelyn Lee of Butternut Gardens, this is an extended State-Focus episode. A lot of exciting flower news is coming out of Connecticut and I'm glad we took the time to discuss it to share with you.

Evelyn joined Slow Flowers several years ago and I've enjoyed meeting her on a few occasions, including last year's Slow Flowers Summit in Washington, D.C. I also interviewed her for a farmer-florist article a few years ago. Ironically, that article appeared in Southern Farm & Garden magazine, and while Connecticut isn't exactly "the south," the editors loved her story. Here's a link for you to read the article.

Southern Farm & Garden ArticleDownload

Evelyn Lee of Butternut Gardens in Southport, Connecticut

Here's more about Evelyn Lee and her flowers:

Little White Flower Cottage sales building and floral sales tent

A number of years ago, with kids in college and beyond, Evelyn set her sights on the unlikely endeavor of creating a flower farm in the middle of the suburbs. Call her crazy, but she believed, then and now, that people truly appreciate fresh flowers, and that people, our environment and our economy all benefit from locally grown blooms.

Labeling used by Connecticut's agriculture producers

Butternut Gardens is a fabulous little flower farm, design studio and garden workshop tucked away in Southport, CT. It is the only cut flower farm in Connecticut's Fairfield County, offering the freshest of blossoms harvested daily at the peak of perfection.  No shipping. No storage.  Just rich, vibrant, delicious-smelling flowers every time.

A beautiful peony mix from Butternut Gardens

Evelyn

shares this on her web site:

When

you choose Butternut Gardens flowers, you also choose flowers grown in an earth

friendly manner on a Bee Friendly Farm by Evelyn Lee, a NOFA Accredited Organic

Land Care Professional. Not only is our goal to bring the true beauty,

fragrance

and astounding

variety of freshly-cut flowers to your special events and into your

daily lives, but also  to share knowledge and best practices for

sustainable suburban gardening, landscaping and land use.

Butternut Gardens' springtime bouquets

Butternut

Gardens flowers do not receive synthetic fertilizers, and great care is taken

to not only "do no harm" but to also protect and enhance soil, water

and living organisms. At Butternut Gardens, we leave plenty of flowers and

pollinator-friendly habitat for neighborhood honey bees and an abundance of

native pollinators, which call our land "home." We strive to lead by

example in our suburban neighborhood and hope to teach others about eco

friendly gardening practices that can be applied to their land and gardens as

well. A little education can go a long way!

During the growing season (March to November) Butternut Gardens crafts an ever-changing parade of seasonal flowers, fruits, seeds, branches and other interesting natural botanical elements from the several hundred of varieties locally grown into seasonal bouquets and arrangements.

A vivid summer floral palette from Butternut Gardens

Another cottage portrait (left) and more varieties of blooms (r...